


Zmaj

by ShadowForge



Category: Original Work
Genre: Hunting, Magic, Other, Survival, Voice inside head, War, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 12:54:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19464421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowForge/pseuds/ShadowForge
Summary: Just keeping it here, not yet thought up.





	1. Chapter 1

A rabbit hopped through the forest, searching for food to bring back to its burrow and feed the young. The same ones it had birthed less than a week ago, who still hadn’t opened their eyes and seen the world. The food wasn’t for them of course, they were far too young to eat. No, it was for her, she needed to eat to make the milk they fed on. Through the green forest it threaded mindfully, aware of the predators stalking in the trees and bushes. Taking care not to make too much sound while she dug around for roots in the cold unforgiving snow. 

A snap of something made her stand in attention. Panicking she looked around, searching for the source. There! Behind the big pine tree, a shadow, too fast to see. But it was enough for the rabbit to bolt away from it, whatever It was. 

A turn, a twist, a jump over the fallen tree and single leap over the ice cold stream weren’t enough. No matter what it did the monster was always behind her, ever closer. Meter by meter, it gained on the tiering rabbit. 

~RAA!~

The monster screamed, startling the rabbit and making it lose its footing, crashing headfirst into the rock that was obscured by a blanket of snow. Dazed the rabbit tried to get up, but the monster was upon her in an instant. It’s jaws powerful and teeth razor sharp. The pain blinded the poor animal, but it wasn’t done yet. It had to live, not for herself, but for her young. If she didn’t survive this they would all starve. So with a panic fueled strength she swung her feet in the strongest kick she could muster and slammed them into the predators throat.

With a yelp and a squeal the maw of death released her and she ran. She ran as fast as her panic filled body could allow her, her feet kicking up snow in her wake, leaving the pursuer stunned and dazed behind her.

‘I told you, when you catch them keep your body to the side.’ A voice scolded the predator.

It wasn’t it’s mother, brother or father. No, it was something different. Not a mentor, but it acted as such often. The voice was something far more interesting, it was the predator itself. Although he and the predator were one, they were separate. The voice could see, feel, hear and understand everything it’s counterpart could. But one thing it couldn’t do, was use the body.

A peculiar situation indeed. How the voice had gained the knowledge it did, was a mystery onto itself. One unknown even to the voice, but a very useful one for both of them. For you see, they were alone. 

Alone with no one, but each other. For the last two years, since they hatched, they had been alone in the vast forest. Not a sign of intelligence in sight. The foreknowledge the voice had been gifted with had come in useful. Without it they would not have survived as long as they had.

The creature, whined in pain - his throat hurt still. The kick left it breathless and the place here it hit him shot arcs of pain on touch.

‘ I know, I know.’ The Voice lamented, ‘I share the pain too, but if you don’t get up the rabbit will run away and we will have nothing to eat.’

It growled at the mention of going hungry, pain forgotten momentarily. Without a second's hesitation it got up and started trekking toward its prey. Its talons keeping a firm hold on the soft ground and the pristine white scales that adorned it hid it from sight.

‘Keep your eyes on the blood trail and the paw prints, it will lead you to it.’ The Voice began anew, instructing his counterpart in the tactics of their hunt. ‘It can’t get far, we bit it hard enough to bleed it out, but we can’t let someone steal it from us!’

The last words resonated with the young hunter. ‘They.Not.Steal!’ He thought.

‘Your first words!’ The Voice said excitedly. ‘Ok, no. We need to focus on the rabbit first. Be quick, we need to get to it fast.’ With that that they bounded even faster after their prize.

Meanwhile the rabbit had slowed down to a crawl. Its previous strength gone and replaced with agony. The beast had punctured its windpipe with its teeth. Leaving the mother to agonize for every breath, while her lungs filled with blood, drowning her in it. She was so tired, every step felt like moving the world. The snow felt cold and nice, cooling her hot body and making the pain go away. Only a moment, she would rest for a moment to recoup her strength. Then she would go back to her darlings with lots of food for all of them. Enough so they would have for the rest of winter. She was so exhausted, the rest would do her well. The world soon turned black as the rabbit mother slipped out of consciousness and out of the world of the living.

There in the middle of the forest floor, on the yet untreated snow she lie, waiting for someone to stumble upon her. That someone was a white fox. Sly and cunning, still rested and fast. The smart fox had seen the rabbit, had watched her suffer and waited for her death. Now she would reap the reward of her patience. The rabbit was hers.

The sly fox trudged towards her prize, the rabbit giving her last twitches even so close to death. The smart fox examined her snack, fat and plum, excellent for a well rounded meal. The took the rabbit by the neck and started to leave with her boon. With all of the foxes slynes, cunningness and intellect, it was gullible. For she thought that it was fortuitous that such a delicacy would simply waltz in and die in front of her paws. She did not stop to think of what had killed the rabbit or that the killer would want it all for himself. The sly, cunning and smart fox did not expect a small white dragon to come for its prey and find another.

‘NO! That is our!’ The voice bellowed furiously to no one but himself and his counterpart,’We hunted it and We'll take it with that thief attached!’

The dragon, the one using the body, agreed wholeheartedly with the voice inside his head. The rabbit was hunted by them, the rabbit hurt them and the rabbit was going to be theirs. The thief would die for the wronging them!

Without even pausing to consider their next move the dragon leapt from behind the rocks he was hiding. Landing in the middle of the small clearing, facing the thieving fox. He wanted it to fight them, to earn their hunt. But the fox had other ideas. It ran.

The dragon was stunned. Why did it run, it was supposed to fight him. He wanted to fight it. The Voice was quicker to recover, though he too was momentarily stunned after being caught up in his other selves emotions.

‘Run after it! Chase it!’ He yelled, wishing he could do something more beside speak.’It’s getting away with our food!’

Not wasting a breath the dragon gave chase to the food snatcher. Dodging the roots, leaping over the rocks and taking sharp turns with minimal loss of speed they started gaining on her. She was in their sight, the stolen rabbit weighing her down. Closer and closer they followed, until they got to the river bank.

Despite their speed and knowledge the duo was missing one thing. Experience and grace. The latter proved necessary for the next obstacle. The freezing lake was still flowing strong, the multiple streams they passed by during their chase all flowed into it. The sheer speed of the rapids made the water colder than ice. They did not dare get too close, who knew which part of the bank was ground and which snow.

That was a problem the fox didn’t have. For she was experienced with these woods, having lived there for many winters had given her ample time to get acquainted with them. With a hop and a skip across the unyielding stones she crossed the river, turning back toward her pursuer to give a gloating smirk.

‘Our hunt! No!’ The Voice raved, ‘It’s ours! We won’t let you take it! Give it back!’

If one could hear him they wouldn’t be afraid. They would either pity or laugh at him. His voice was shrill and close to tears. Why wouldn’t he be, after all the meal they worked hard on catchin was just taken right in front of them and there was nothing they could do about it. After four days of no success they had finally caught something, only for it to be snached like that. But the dragon did not feel sadness or pity, anger boiled in his chest and determination blossomed. He leaped to follow the foxes trail, only to slip and fall on the second stone. They were heavier, bulkier and very clumsy compared to the fox. Even though they might have been the same age as her, dragons took a lot longer to develop than foxes. It was thanks to their equal amount of winters of inexperience they had managed to fall into the ice cold river.

‘What!? Hold on, try to get your head above the water!’ The Voice yelped in surprise at the sudden movement from his other self, grooving very alarmed when they fell in. ‘Don’t panic, move your claws in unison and paddle with your hind legs!’ He tried to keep calm and instrict his half in how to survive, but the dragon was too frantic to follow his advice.

The Voice wished his double would listen, he wished he could do something. The sheer helplessness in this situation frustrated him. Why was he so useless all the time? All he did was talk endlessly, which he felt was grating on his counterparts nerves. He could only watch, not even focus on what he wanted with the gaze. So pointless. He was pointless. Powerless. ANGRY!

Just then the lake froze close to a meter in all directions except around the dragons body. The very same dragon around which clouds of steam were blowing as if water was thrown on red hot coals. Then without warning its form changed from the prestean white to a pitch black and blended into the ice as if they themselves were made out of water. Only to appear from behind the fox. Appear might not be completely accurate, they emerged from her shadow rising with malformed limbs that snaked their way around the animal's body and clamped hard. One went around her legs and tripped her, sending the rabbit and both of them tumbling to the ground. The fox tried to get up and fight back, but before she could the shadow creature reformed into the familiar dragon who upon seeing her went swiftly for the trought. The fox started kicking and wailing, but could not reach her assailant. With a mighty jerk the dragon snapped the foxes neck, ending her right then and there.

What the Voice saw was a bit different. When his emotions culminated he, unknowingly, reached deep inside him and released the dormant magic. The first wave felt like letting out a breath they had been holding for far too long, a sweet release that sent coolness through his body and froze the lake. Next came the feeling of a warm blanket covering them in it welcoming embrace, warm and comfortable. Last was the dream or a nightmare. Well not their nightmare that was for certain. He felt free, weightless and able to do anything, and he wanted nothing more than to take revenge upon the one that wronged them. That wretched fox would get what was coming to her. With nothing more than need for justice he rushed through the dream, seeing only the inverted world above until he spotted something different. The sound echoed across the dream of soft pitter patters above. When he looked up, he knew it was the fox, he couldn't see her, but he knew. Doubtless if he was correct he imagined his limbs turning to snakes, one thing they both feared did not dare come close. Emerging from behind her he let the snakes loose and bit, strangled and entangled the thief. Only losing focus when he slowly realised that it was not, in fact, a dream. It was very much real, but what he just did there shouldn’t have been possible. Thankfully the dragon picked up where he had left off. His limbs reforming back into their natural shape and ended the fox.

‘I...I don’t know what happened.’ Exhausted and confused the Voice retreated into himself. He was scared and uncertain. This was the first time since they hatched that he could affect the outside world. Never had he even dreamt...Dreams. The word sent shivers down his spine, something the dragon felt too. Were all his dreams real? Had he done something like this before, but simply wasn’t aware? The idea of it disturbed him. Losing control of his, no their body like that was not something he was comfortable with.

Despite talkative sides turmoil the dragon picked up the fox and the rabbit and started making his way back to their little burrow. He was hoping that the ice was still there. He too was confused by the previous events, but in a good way. The Voice was always there for him, especially now. If it wasn’t for him they would have died. It was great that he could do those things. He was happy before for all the pointers and advice he was giving him. He liked learning. But most of all he was happy he was just there. Being lonely was the worst. 

He remembered the first week after he hatched. The rain and thunder were terrifying. He was all alone and scared. Then one day the Voice was there. He was probably there to begin with, but it took him longer to wake up. So in a way the dragon was Vocie’s older brother. That meant he had to protect him… Well them. Voice told him that there was nothing to be afraid. Actually he told him there was a lot of things to be afraid, but he explained how to not be scared of them. The thunder couldn't hurt them and the rain was not a problem after they found shelter. Then he taught him how to make a fire, how to hunt and to always wash everything he put in his mouth. 

It miffed the dragon that the fox had managed to run so far away in such a short time. Thankfully the Voice caught her. Even if he wasn’t sure how. But the river was loud and he found it after a little while, the ice was there too. The water had flowed around and under it, clearing the snow and coating the ice in a thing layer of water. He was about to cross it when his other self stopped him.

‘Wait, don’t.’ He sounded tired and barely clinging to consciousness. ‘It’s not stable, you’re carrying both of them and the ice got withred down by the river. It’ll break or come loose.’ He paused, exhaustion catching up to him. Perhaps those feats weren’t so easy as they felt when he did them. ‘Walk upstream by the riverbank and look for a fallen tree or something to cross over with.’ With that the Voice drifted into a blissful sleep, exhausting having caught up with him. He had done more today in less than a minute than in his entire life.

The dragon gave a heavy sigh through the two dead animals in its jaws. It was going to be a long trip.


	2. Chapter 2

The way was long and tiring for the young dragon, the snow and the weight of his game were slowing him down and made him use much more energy for every step. He sunk deeper into the cold snow and the bodies hanging bron his maw were digging themselves in and dragging the snow with them, af if the earth itself would not let them go.

He walked and walked, with no safe passage in sight. After the first hour, he decided to take a rest under a tree, where the snow was sparse. There the three of them lie, looking almost seren from the distance, but the closer you came the grimmer the sight became. The small dragon was comfortably nuzzled in between the soft and warm furrs of the not so long dead carcases. 

It was nice and warm for him, it almost felt like he was back in their cave, where they had all the fun things the Voice thought up of. Where the furrs were plentiful and iled up in the corner by the fire. Oh, the big one was probably done. He was so excited about it, the Voice had called it an elk. Funny name, Voice always made the best names. The elk was huge when they found it. But they didn’t kill it, he wouldn even dare to get close to it at first, Voice had to convince him it was dead. The elk was probably stupid, it got caught on the ground and died. They would never get caught like that they were smart.But he was glad elks were stupid, he got to eat a lot that day and the next and the next...

The first ten minutes passed, then twenty and the dragon was slowly starting to drift off to blissful sleep. Then with an alarmed look in his eyes he bolted upright. That was dangerous, or at least the Voice had said so. The cold wanted to lull you into sleep then to kill you without your knowing. With a violent shake to chase the sleepiness away the dragon swiftly grabbed his food and made his way upstream again, this time rest was not even a consideration.

Another grueling hour passed with nothing but the sound of the speeding water and his soft steps to disrupt the quiet monotony. It even started to snow again, large clumps of snowflakes held together on their fall to the earth below, blanketing the rumpled ground with their soft embrace and making it impossible to see more than ten meters ahead. The whole thing was quite annoying and the dragon was nearing the end of his patience. 

He wished Voice was there, he’d know what to do. But his only friend was nowhere to be heard. It was strange, he’d never done that before. Even when waking up it was always him that would nag the dragon to get up. It was unnerving how quiet it was.

Trying again to call his other self the dragon focused hard, trying to do something to catch his attention. Making sounds didn’t work. Stomping his front paw didn't either and if the dead silence was any indicator not even his angry scream with the fox and rabbit in his mouth. He didn’t like it. He did not like being alone, it felt like when he first hatched. Cold, scared and hungry. But Voice promised that he wouldn't be alone, and he lied! He wished he could talk like Voice did all the time, but it was hard. He did it last time, why wouldn’t he be able to now. Just one word again.

‘Voice.’ Barely a whisper, but he did it. He said it! It was in his mind, the words were forming! 

‘Voice.’ It was louder this time, but still very quiet, but he knew he could do better. 

With a deep breath he scrunched his eyes shut and focused hard on forming the words in his mind. ‘Voice!’ the tiny dragon screamed for his friend, it wasn’t loud, but strong enough to stir his friend from his sleep.

‘Wha? Not now, go to sleep.’ The Voice answered gogilly. ‘I’m tired.’

He was still there and he didn’t leave him. It was good, he was happy they were still together. But something felt off. Voice got tired at the same time he did, but the dragon felt fine. He was exhausted, but he didn’t feel like sleeping. The dragon gasped when it dawned on him, almost dropping the pray from his mouth, it was all so clear to him now. The reason Voice was tired was because of the cold. Stupid Voice didn’t listen to his own advice, even if he himself almost fell victim to it. 

The dragon took off running upstream immediately his muscles aching with the soreness of today's long trek throughout the woods, but he persevered. He had to, or otherwise Voice might fall asleep and not wake up. The Voice couldn’t have been tired, he never was. It had to be the cold, it was making him sleepy like the dragon felt before. If only he hadn’t stopped there, none of this would have happened. Horrified at the thought of losing his companion he bounded even faster toward a safe passage across the daunting river.

He kept the running pace until he found a crossing. It was a pile of stones hanging above the river. As he got closer he noticed that they were smooth and piled neatly, almost like someone put them there on purpose. Hesitantly he walked over to it and gave a hesitant pat at the foot of the structure. He was relieved when it did not topple over and took a few careful steps. It held up, but he still wasn’t sure if he could cross it safely. The thing didn’t even fall when he stomped on it hard, even when he did it with both paws. But right as he was about to cross a noise caught his attention.

A little way behind him he could hear something, but he wasn’t sure what. It didn’t sound like the trees in the wind, or any animal he was aware of, but Voice might have known. More times than he could count he wished Voice was with him. He never knew how dependent he was on him and it made him a bit angry for some reason. The hatchling was taken out of his musing when a large animal hopped onto the path from behind a corner. For a second he did nothing, but look at the creature perplexedly. He had never seen animals walking on two feet. Only four or even no feet at all. But this furry thing was jumping with it’s back to him, acting like it was nothing.

He stood there watching with his mouth full of furr, then more of them came. These much bigger than the first one and the little dragon finally remembered that he was standing in the middle of the rock pile. With a muffled yelp he scurried off the rocks and hid in a bush at the side of the road where he observed the oncoming group of strange bipedal creatures.


End file.
